The taxi ride was about 20 minutes or so to West End. I was dropped off at the traffic circle at the entrance to the town/village and then set off upon my business.

I am a very casual traveler when heading out solo so I did not yet have a place to stay although I had done some research prior to leaving home. I checked out a few of the prime places that I had been considering but availability was limited so after 2 or 3 locations I finally found a cheap room to park my bag at the Sea Breeze Inn for my first night while I continued my search (see review).

Checking out down the street I was looking for both lodging and a dive shop. After a few stops I found West End Divers and decided to use them for my dives. After talking to Alex and setting up an initial dive for Sunday, I headed up a side street right next to the shop and walked up to the Mariposa Lodge

. Talked to the staff and they said that they had a room that would be opening up in the morning. They asked someone staying if I could poke my head in and look at the rooms and I liked what I saw so decided to jump at this opportunity. I would be able to come back around noon the next day and check in right before heading out on my dive.

With the hard work taken care of it was time to relax and enjoy the remainder of the afternoon/evening. The wind was blowing something fierce today leading to a choppy surf around the area as I explored the rest of town. Finally stopped and grabbed some dinner and a few drinks before deciding to crash early. My night on a couple of chairs in Dallas was starting to catch up with me. Even the noise from the street and from Cannibal Cafe in front of the hotel couldn't stop me from quickly dozing off.